524 Notes on Sport and Travel x 



slipperiness and discomfort. But we had no choice. 

 We had already spent nearly an hour in our cautious 

 circuit : our scramble, wherever it took place, would 

 cost us nearly another before we got above our ex- 

 pected prey ; and if we hesitated much longer, he 

 might take a fancy to march off altogether in search 

 of the rest of the herd. So up we went, dragging 

 ourselves and each other up the wet slippery rocks, 

 getting a shivering ' swish ' of ice-cold water in our 

 faces every now and then, till we got about half-way 

 up, when just as we were resting for a moment to 

 take breath, we heard a tremendous roar, followed 

 by a splintering crash just above our heads, and had 

 the pleasure of seeing the fragments of some half a 

 ton of ice, which had fallen from the glacier above, 

 fly out from the shelf of rock under which we were 

 resting, and spin down the rugged path we had just 

 ascended. Thinking that this was quite near enough 

 to be pleasant, and calculating that by every doctrine 

 of chances the same thing would not happen twice 

 in the same half-hour, we scrambled up as fast as 

 we could before the next instalment became due, 

 and at last reached safely the top of the precipice. 



We certainly had not much to boast of as far as 

 walking went when we got there, for the snow and 

 rocks were tumbled about in a very wild manner. 

 If we slipped off a rock we tumbled waist-deep into 

 the soft melting snow-drifts; and when we tumbled on 

 the snow there was always some lurking rock ready 

 to remind us of his presence by a hearty thump. 



